27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
03 Acts 09 32-43 THE MINISTRY OF PETER 04 Acts 09 33-34 God’s healing
📖 Acts 09:32-43
04 – Sat01Jun2024 – *God’s healing* - _Acts 09:32-43_ – THE MINISTRY OF PETER – _Colossians 01:20_
_Acts 9:33-34 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. (34) And Peter said to him, "*Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you*. Arise and make your bed." Then he arose immediately._
Peter told the paralysed bedridden man, *"Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you…”*. Peter addressed Aeneas individually and personally. The Lord is intervening in each of our lives and He longs to make each of us whole and complete. Yes, the Lord loves His church but each of us is significant and precious before God.
_Matthew 12:11-12 Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? (12) *Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?* Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."_
Peter was operating on truth. He had witnessed the work of God in people’s lives and was assured that he ought to live by the truth and not by the fact.
In the encounter with the lame man in the temple, Peter and John tell the people of Israel this. _Acts 3:16 And His name, *through faith in His name, has made this man strong*, whom you see and know. *Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.*_
Faith in the Truth gave the man perfect soundness.
The early church prayed for boldness to speak God’s word. They also asked the Lord for boldness to stretch out God’s hand to heal and signs and wonders may be done through the name of Jesus. _Acts 4:29-30 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, (30) *by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus*."_
God is our Healer and Restorer. He is reconciling all things back to God. He is giving us His Shalom. To experience the Shalom and the well-being of God, we must come into the habitat of God or into His kingdom.
The world is rejecting and rebelling against God. Man wants his independence from God but he does not realise that in pursuing his freedom from God, he has become a prisoner of the devil. This is Man’s terrible predicament.
The devil is giving Man and all of God’s creation, pain, agony, suffering, turmoil, perplexity and confusion. Creation is groaning. _Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now._
The whole of creation is waiting for Man to be reconciled with God and once again bring about the rule of God on earth. _Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God._ Creation will respond gloriously to the rule and leadership of Man under God. _Romans 8:21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God._
It is because Man refuses to come back to God but remains in the bondage of the devil, that the devil is using Man as his proxy to carry out his evil agenda in creation. _II Timothy 2:26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, *having been taken captive by him to do his will*._
The fact of sickness that we experience is primarily because of all that Man has lost by rejecting God. God is restoring all things back to fullness through the cross of Jesus. _Colossians 1:20 and by Him *to reconcile all things to Himself*, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross._
We have received healing freely and freely we give healing to others because the Lord is good to all. At the same time, it is important for people to not only experience healing but to come to the habitat of God and remain under His authority.
The Lord told the paralytic man, _Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."_
Man’s sin is against God and it is God alone who can forgive sins. In forgiving this man’s sin the Lord was restoring this man back to Himself and to His rule and authority over his life. This is where he is complete.
When Peter tells Aeneas, “Jesus the Christ heals you”, he is telling the man that he now needs to come under the authority of Jesus. This is where he is complete.
We as the church must live by the Truth and give the healing of Jesus to one another. We simultaneously encourage and plead with people to come under the authority of Jesus so that their lives would be complete.
Aeneas was told to arise and make his bed. Healing happens when a person is able to take care of himself and is no more a burden on others. Instead of being a burden on others, Aeneas had to become like Peter giving the healing of Jesus to others. This is where healing is complete.
```If we are not serving others, we are still sick and need God’s healing.```